Houghton Mifflin Co. ([early November] 1943)

#1641: Willa Cather to Houghton Mifflin Co., [early November] 1943

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Textual Feature	Appearance
passage deleted with a strikethrough mark	~~deleted passage~~
passage deleted by overwritten added letters	~~overwritten passage~~
passage added above the line	passage with added text above
passage added on the line	passage with added text inline
passage added in the margin	passage with text added in margin
handwritten addition to a typewritten letter	typed passage with added handwritten text
missing or unreadable text	missing text noted with "[illegible]"
uncertain transcriptions	word[?]
notes written by someone other than Willa Cather	Note in another's hand
printed letterhead text	printed text
text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc.	printed text
text of date and place stamps	stamped text
passage written by Cather on separate enclosure.	written text

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
2 PARK STREET BOSTON 7 October 14, 1943 Houghton Mifflin Company 2 Park Street Boston, Massachusetts³
Gentlemen¹:

This letter⁴ is authorization to carry on the title page of my books which you publish, imprints of other publishers in combination with your own as distributors. This authorization is given in view of the special circumstances arising from the War Production Board Order L 245 and Interpretation #1 of that order.

It is mutually understood that in every other respect my contract with you remains unchanged. The royalties on all copies sold under your imprint as distributors will be paid exactly as they were under your imprint as publishers and you will continue to have full responsibility for these payments.

Very truly yours, Willa Cather

I suppose⁵ "Classics" would be the best for an obliging second husband, though I hate their method of advertising! ~~such as :~~

W. S. Cather
Imprints

Information about this letter:

Source File:: cat.let1641.xml
Letter identifier: 1641
Contents: Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only. Handwritten postscript pasted at the bottom.
Person to whom letter was written: Houghton Mifflin Co.¹
Date letter was written: [early November] 1943
Explanation of conjectured date: The date of this form letter provided by Houghton Mifflin is the same as Ferris Greenslet's letter enclosing it. However, Greenslet acknowledges receipt of this letter on Novemer 12, 1943, suggesting Cather likely did not sign it until November.
Place letter was written: New York, New York, United States²
Location of original letter: Houghton Mifflin Company correspondence and records, 1832-1944 (MSAm1925), Harvard University, Houghton Library, Cambridge, MA

Individual Annotations

On 14 October 1943, Greenslet wrote Cather that O Pioneers (1913) and My Ántonia (1918) were due for reprinting. However, in 1943 publishers were restricted to using 90 percent of the paper they had used in 1942, and Houghton Mifflin had already used its allotment. As a workaround, publishers were permitted to collaborate with a publisher who still had paper available. He thus asked her permission for the novels to appear under the imprint of The Lexington Press, New York City, and Literary Classics, Inc., New York City, with Houghton Mifflin listed as distributor. He enclosed this form letter for her signature.

These pasted sentences were evidently cut from Cather's letter to Greenslet transmitting this signed form letter, the rest of which does not survive. #1643 is her initial response to Greenslet's 14 October 1943 letter.

Person Annotations

0870

Unknown staff member(s) from Houghton Mifflin Co. Cather's frequent contacts at Houghton Mifflin included Ferris Greenslet, Roger L. Scaife, and Alverda Van Tuyll.

Place Annotations

New York, New York, United States

Boston, Massachusetts, United States